Rippling Hope Memories 2018
Our Mission partner has been ripplinghope.org
June 17-23 was Zion’s 4th mission trip to Rippling Hope in Detroit. We took a smaller group due to drop-outs made necessary by work and family obligations, but we added another teenager, Matt Heitmeier. Two teens: Matt and Will Neises accompanied Bill and Pam Daws, Tom Ralston, and Pastor Brice.
Our first day was miserably hot! Mid-90’s and brutal humidity made working outside slow and dangerous. Even drinking as much water as we could, we all felt worn out by the end of the day. Mercifully, Tuesday came in much cooler. The rest of the week, temperatures were actually pleasant for working outside. Thursday morning, we woke to rain, but it stopped shortly after we arrived at our work sites and did not measurably disturb our schedule. Friday’s forecast was for heavy rains, but they held off through mid-day. We got our last tasks finished, then spent the afternoon having fun at the Henry Ford Museum.
Some of the people we met
Mrs. E lost her husband less than one year ago. After many years of marriage, she is learning to pick up the chores he once did, adding them to her own. Added to some of the familiar ailments of age, it has slowed her down in keeping up her garden. Worse, while trying to work in her garden, she fell, hurting her shoulder. We spent half a day weeding and cleaning up her extensive flower beds. She stayed with us all day; offering encouragement and thanks, and helping out as much as she was able. She gave us her thousand watt smiles and shared some of the joys of her life. In the brutal heat, she kept offering us plenty to drink.
Mr. B’s home looks very nice, fitting in well with a neighborhood of nice houses. One could wonder why Rippling Hope was there, until you look more closely, and see that maintenance has not been kept up on many of these homes. Mr. B is unable physically or financially to keep up. We caulked windows that need much more work. While we were there we met his grandson, who lives with him. His mother-in-law (the child’s great-grandmother) came over to give the boy a Spanish lesson under the trees.
Mrs. C’s original porch railing was made from light wrought iron. Many seasons of winter salt had rusted away the fittings, making it dangerous to us. Our task was to replace it with a more solid wooden porch railing. She insisted on cooking fried chicken and homemade pound cake for our lunch and would not take ‘no’ for an answer. It was delicious! Apparently, she is well known in the neighborhood for her cooking. As soon as the chicken was done, neighbors began showing up from all around. She shared her food with a generous heart and a glowing smile.
Mrs. T was in her mid-40’s, much younger than most of the homeowners we work with. Ten years before, in her mid-30’s she had to have three heart valves replaced. She is still unable to work as she had once, though she does what she can. She has a part-time job as an automobile test driver. She couldn’t reveal much about her work, except that the company tests next year’s models on the road in real-life conditions. The day we were there, she had gotten up at 4:30 in the morning, and by mid-afternoon when she came home to meet us, had driven a test car more than 250 miles. Her older home needed storm windows to be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. She was able to measure and purchase stock windows, needing Rippling Hope to help her by installing them. We ran into some problems with the windows being incorrect sizes, but she persisted and got the correct sizes. We also built a platform for her rain barrels. Now they are high enough to be able to water her garden by gravity.
Mrs. H had a small and tidy deck off the back door of her house, a shady spot under a huge oak tree for enjoying a morning cup of coffee or grilling out in the evening. The deck had several rotted boards. The best solution would be to tear off the old and rebuild the deck from the ground up, but that was not financially feasible for her. She understood clearly what Carl was telling her, that what we could do was only a temporary improvement, but it allowed her to continue to enjoy her afternoon quiet space a little longer.
Robin Zerwick’s gift is hospitality. She warmly welcomed us and made us feel well cared for. She cooks breakfast and supper for the work crews and lays out sandwich items for us to make our own lunches. It doesn’t seem to matter if she is feeding six or sixty people, she sees that we are well fed. One night, (her birthday), she made her favorites: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy. So good! I can’t remember the last time I had that meal; I am still savoring the memory of that luscious food.
Carl and Robin work through the winter with the neighborhood associations, organizing, prioritizing, and preparing the work list for the summer. As with any construction project, the planning is never easy or finished. There are always last-minute schedule changes due to weather or supplies that did not arrive, or the abilities of the work crews in a given week. It is a constant juggling act, but Carl manages to make it work so that work crews waste as little time as possible being unproductive. Our group’s experience, similar to remarks we heard from other groups, was that we felt we were able to accomplish something productive with our time.
Every group I have ever taken on a mission trip has had the same experience. We go thinking that we are going to do something for someone else, but we find that we always receive the larger blessing. The homeowners we work with get some free labor from us, doing something they could not do for themselves, but we receive the joy of meeting new friends who are so gracious and grateful for our being there, and we inevitably see the face of Jesus in the faces of those we meet.
We inevitably receive blessings from God far greater than we expect.

Ask Google about what the Bible says about Immigrants, and you will get a page from Openbible.com. They list 100 passages, many of them emphasizing the same points. Here are a few of them.  One thing that jumped out at me was that NONE of these passages said it is acceptable to separate children from their parents or to lock sojourners into cages in concentration camps.

Leviticus 19:33-34 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Exodus 23:9 “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” Treating brown-skinned people, or those with broken English as automatic law-breakers is forbidden.
For those who think of justice only as punishing those who break the law:
Malachi 3:5 (GOD says) “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.
Deuteronomy 27:19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Leviticus 24:22 You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, BECAUSE I am the LORD your God.”
Leviticus 25:35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.

Is there any way to read this other than that you are obligated to support the sojourner in your land if they cannot maintain themselves?

Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Psalm 146:9 The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Deuteronomy 24:14 “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.
Matthew 25:31-46 The longest discourse Jesus has regarding the nature of the final judgment. How are we judged? By the way we treat the least of our brothers and sisters.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, …
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Genesis 12:10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
The First Book of the Bible even recognizes that sometimes there is a need to leave your homeland and go elsewhere, in order to survive.
1 Peter 2:13-16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
RE: Jeff Sessions quoting Romans 13?
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
How about Acts 5:
Acts 5:29
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Zechariah 7:10 Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
Deuteronomy 24:19-21 “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
Jeremiah 22:3-5 Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. (Promises of success for the nation)… But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
Galatians 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jeremiah 22:3Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
Leviticus 19:33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
James 2:2-15 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? …

Someone asked Jesus, “What is the most important commandment?” Jesus gave a two-part answer: “Love God with all you have and love your neighbor as if they were your own kin.”
Luke 10:29-42 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. …
Who is my neighbor?-

Matthew 2:13-15 Now after they (Magi) had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph[a] got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

Prayer for June 24, 2018
God’s love for the immigrant

God of love, throughout the Sacred Words, you have given us clear instruction: that we are to love and protect and shelter the immigrant and the refugee just as strongly as we protect our own families. You remind us that our spiritual ancestors, the Jews, were refugees in Egypt. You remind us followers of Christ that Jesus and his family were refugees, forced into Egypt, fleeing Herod’s murderous wrath.

You remind us that we are to be hospitable to strangers, that sometimes within those unfamiliar faces are hiding angels from you.

Open our hearts to obey your Scriptures and care for the immigrants. Make us bold to speak out when our government fails in its duty to protect the sojourner with the same care as it offers justice to we who have privilege. Give us stiff spines and loud voices and determined feet to resist evil, even… no especially when it comes from our own national leadership.

Stand with us when we stand up to tyranny; amplify our voices when we cry out on behalf of the vulnerable, the powerless, the poor, both refugee and native-born. Bend our hearts and minds to follow Jesus; to love all of Your Children as if they were our own kin, and remind us that, since all people are your children, we ARE all kin; made brothers and sisters by your love.

Teach us to love like Jesus; to be bold like Jesus against evil.
Sweep away leaders who lead for the sake of their own egos and personal enrichment and replace them with Godly women and men who dedicate themselves to following your principles of love and justice.

We are all broken in some ways, loving God; tenderly bind our wounds- the ones that show on our bodies as well as the wounds to our spirits that are harder to see.

Teach us to live the prayer Jesus taught our lips to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. AMEN

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God- Romans 8:22-27
I’ve been doing a lot of groaning lately. Some of it a litany of old bones: groaning getting out of bed, getting up off the ground when I’ve been playing in the dirt, those reminders that my body is not what it once was.
But deeper groans have been coming from witnessing a world that seems to be running away from God’s desires, rushing headlong into hatred, violence, rushing into what may become the destruction of this planet God has created and given us to manage.

When the pain of watching humanity hurtle towards destruction gets too bad, I remind myself that the story is not yet over. Just when our pain gets too strong, our weakness too frail, that is when God’s Spirit intercedes, and brings us strength enough to carry on.

Do not give up on us, God. Bind up the broken hearts of your children who are seeking to follow Your Way, that we might persevere in these difficult days. Speak to those in power, that their will might be turned from self-aggrandizement to seeking what is best for the whole world. In the midst of our pain, loving God, remind us that you are birthing the realization of the promises you have made through your Son, Jesus. Hear our prayers, attentive God, even when all we can manage are groans.

Watching the news in our time can be a frightening and depressing activity. There are times when it seems as if the world is headed backwards, into chaos and death, rushing headlong into disaster.
The situation seems hopeless; as hopeless as dry bones bleaching on the desert. Look at problems of the world, of Burlington, of Zion church, or the problems of our own lives, and think- dead, very dry, dusty; hopeless. Nothing that can be done here. We look and see only dead.
And then God comes along; and the Spirit of life blows through, and we see life. Others around us can see it, and understand it too. Nothing we did differently, but somehow, the presence of God becomes tangible among us. The Divine wind—the spirit of God brings hope where there was no hope; life where there could not be life.
That ragtag band of Jesus followers found they had been given an amazing gift, to be able to be understood by such divergent cultures. It was a gift given SO THAT the believers could share their story. God had been generous, theirs was to pass on that generosity, not try to cling to it for themselves. They told their stories, and thousands listened. And in spite of persecution, deportation, dungeon, fire, and sword, the message took root, and grew, and spread throughout the Roman Empire, until the story has been told around the world.
And we here, are the beneficiaries.
There is still a message to be spoken, hope to be given; a Holy Spirit to be shared. God is still speaking; calling forth a new generation of followers of Jesus; who overcome the death knells of negative publicity, who speak a word of rebuttal to small-mindedness masquerading as Christian faith. More now than ever there is a message which needs to be heard; a message which says, no matter who you are, you have a home here in the house of God; a message- no matter what you have heard elsewhere, you are precious to God.
The spirit of God is on the move in the world today; God is still speaking. Zion is listening, and responding by telling our own stories about the mighty acts of God. Zion’s voice is speaking of a God whose love extends beyond archaic boundaries. Zion’s people are looking for that window of opportunity, when they may speak a word about following Jesus without pre-conditions, without impossibly burdensome barriers.
God’s spirit is here, in a rainbow coalition of voices and faces; speaking the good news stories. Speaking truth to power, speaking the truth about a God whose welcome is without limits, whose love is for all of creation—no barriers, no entrance exam.
The Spirit is still blowing through the gathered community; and is still translating our words into understanding.
God is still speaking; we are the voice.

There is a popular myth we tell ourselves: that what we get from life depends entirely on what we put into it. If we put our shoulders to the wheel and our noses to the grindstone, and work hard, we will succeed. Nothing bad will ever happen to us. Misfortunes are for those who have sinned. Poverty is caused by laziness and a lack of personal discipline.

Lately, my heart has been broken by the struggles of someone I know. She was involved in a car crash, not her fault, that totaled her car and left her with enduring injuries that caused her to lose her job. After a too-short time for healing, she found another job. This one paid barely more than minimum wage, but lacking a high school diploma, it was the best she could get. The money was not enough to keep up with the expenses over the winter, so the power bill fell behind.
Then, her daughter went into labor too soon; the baby died. On the same day her grand-daughter died, the power company cut off their power. Struggling to find the money for her grand-baby’s funeral, and to restore electricity in the home, she is at her wit’s end.

If hard work were the answer, this woman would be a billionaire. If diligent effort made the difference, none of these things would have happened to her.

So, what is that to me? Why should I care about some stranger’s misfortunes? I should care because this woman and her daughter and her grand baby are as much beloved children of God as I claim to be. And since all 4 of us are equally beloved children of God, we are kin. (You are kin, too—just so you know).

Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.” We spend our days living out that commandment.

Our lives are reflected in still water- (Psalm 23)
But healing comes when the water is stirred up- (John 5:2-9)

“He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.”
Such peaceful words. The image of God as a gentle shepherd, leading us to a place of safety, where we can recover from the wounds of the world.
Sometimes, we need such a sanctuary: a place far away from the rat race, away from the constant beatings our spirits endure in the land of push and shove. When we are broken, crushed, and defeated, we ache for that quiet place where we can be restored.
There, beside the calm waters, we can be renewed. Now with time to gaze into the refreshing pool, we can see the reflection of our lives. In that reflective moment, God can show us His hopes, His plans. There is a time to give the worn-out spirit a time to rest in the loving lap of God. There is a time when restoration of the soul requires quiet.
But sometimes, the path to healing is not found at the pool of still water. Sometimes, healing comes when we enter the troubled water. Sometimes, healing will come from striving against the turbulence.
The athlete injures a muscle. Immediately, the numbing power of ice alternates with the soothing warmth of still waters. The injured muscles are bound up, keeping them still to limit further damage. The therapies are designed to summon the healing power of extra blood supply to the injured area, and to rest the afflicted area for a time.
Rest is for a time. But rest alone will not bring full healing. Initially, rest stops the injury process and gives the muscles time to get over the trauma. There is a time when rest is the best medicine. But only for a time. If rest is the only therapy, then after a long while, the muscle will heal, but it will have lost much of its strength. It will be whole again, but much, much weaker. Rest alone seriously deteriorates the muscle’s ability to do what it was made to do: work.
After a brief time of rest, the best healing comes from working the muscles. After the initial day or two with ice and warm heat, the trainer switches to the whirlpool. Legs stride and arms swim against the surging current of the whirlpool, and in the striving against the stirred up waters, the muscles regain their strength.
Muscles are much easier to heal than souls. When our souls are hurt, the wound goes much deeper, the disability is much more severe.
In that first stage, God leads our damaged souls to the place of safe pastures and still waters; a place where the trauma of the soul can be stopped; a place of safety and security where we can rest and reflect.
That is exactly what we need at first. But if we were to remain there, our spirits would wither. Complete healing will come when we enter the stirred-up waters of spiritual life. Wholeness and restoration of our spirits comes when we exercise those “spiritual muscles” against the turbulence of life.
Our spirits regain their strength when we venture back out into the world which has caused the damage and proclaim the healing power of Christ Jesus. In the turbulence is where we grow.
Our lives are reflected in still water
But healing comes when the water is stirred up

In the best of conversations, good friends share ideas, hopes, fears, dreams, and lives. When you sit close together, you share the same air in the room; you share breath along with your deepest realities.
This blog hopes to share some of that sense of closeness with those who read it. Some of us will never physically share the same space closely enough to literally share the same air; our shared space is defined by electrons and far-away server farms. Many of you who will read this blog will never meet face to face. My hope is that we can share the ideas, hopes, fears, and dreams. And in some real, if not physical sense, share lives.

Thanks for joining me!

In the best of conversations, good friends share ideas, hopes, fears, dreams, and lives. When you sit close together, you share the same air in the room; you share breath along with your deepest realities.
This blog hopes to share some of that sense of closeness with those who read it. Some of us will never physically share the same space closely enough to literally share the same air; our shared space is defined by electrons and far-away server farms. Many of you who will read this blog will never meet face to face. My hope is that we can share the ideas, hopes, fears, and dreams. And in some real, if not physical sense, share lives.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton